There are times when life becomes tough, when training becomes hard, we meet obstacles, adversity, misfortune, hardship or unexpected challenges. Times when we need that little extra push, times when we really need to dig deep and find some extra strength from somewhere.

There are some truly fantastic inspirational quotes in sport, from people who have been through the mill themselves. I have added some of my personal favorites inspiration quotes in sport below.

When times become a little challenging for you then just think about a couple of these inspirational quotes -

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days into a life of action, and purpose”.
Lance Armstrong – 7 Time Tour de France winner

“The pain won’t last forever, but the memory will”.
John Maclean – Champion Australian Athlete (The first wheelchair athlete to finish the Hawaiian Ironman)

“The biggest fight is the one within yourself. You must get rid of any negative thoughts or emotions. You must always be Positive”.
Kostya Tszyu – Former Undisputed World Champion Australian Boxer

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a vision. They have to have the skill and will. But the will must be stronger than the skill”.
Muhammad Ali – Former World Champion Boxer

“Plan your Work, then work your plan”.
George Foreman – Former World Champion Boxer

Some great people with some great advice. You’ve gotta love those Inspirational quotes in Sport. Next time you think it’s getting a bit tough just stop and think about a couple of them and get back to it.

Train Hard – Fightwize!

Virtually everyone has had that horrible Crick in the neck at some point, whether you have simply turned your head and felt that real sharp biting pain, or maybe you have just woken up with one.

Crick in the neck is not an official medical term and there are many reasons for them happening. The major cause is normally due to a muscle spasm.

There are a number of home therapies that you could use such as ice / heat pack or even massaging the effected area. Take it easy on the area for a couple of days but if the pain does last more than a few days, you should certainly consult a physician. I personally like to visit my chiropractor as soon as possible and the problem is solved much quicker.

You could also try the Sports Injury Rehab Expert where yo will find answers to many related problems.

Prevention is always better than cure. Following a simple exercise and stretching program will certainly help prevent you getting that crick in the neck. It’s an area that is oftentimes forgotten about with both exercise and flexibility.

If you are training with a crick in the neck then just ensure that you are taking it easy or even avoid it for a few days.

Some very simple stretches are -

Neck Twist – Stand tall with your hands on your hips and turn your head as far as you can to the left and then to the right. Repeat
Chin Drop – Stand tall with your hands on your hips and look up as high as you can and then drop your chin to your chest. Repeat
Half Circles – Stand Tall with your hands on your hips. Rotate your head by moving your chin from one shoulder down to the middle of your chest to the other shoulder. Repeat
Front Resistance – Press both of your hands against your forehead, resist the force using your neck muscles
Rear Resistance – Press both of your hands against the back of your head, resist the force using your neck muscles
Side Resistance – Press your right hand against the right side of your head, resist the force using your neck muscles
Side Resistance – Press your left hand against the left side of your head, resist the force using your neck muscles

So although you could maybe train with crick in the neck if your took it easy. You could follow some simple regular stretches and exercises to help prevent the condition from occurring in the first place. It’s something that can be done in a few minutes maybe 2 or 3 times per week.

Give it a go!

Train Smart – Fightwize!

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Before you can attack your workout, you must first prepare your body through stretching flexibility exercises. Before commencing an intense session, I always go through a series of ground based movements in preparation for the session.

A good warm up makes you more flexible, improves endurance and balance.

In Jiu-Jitsu, there are great demands on your body through grappling, punching, striking, throwing, joint locks, landing and so on. Before all this happens, a warm up that increases your core temperature and warms up all the specific muscles that are about to be recruited can only enhance your performance.

Through good stretching flexibility exercises, you will also increase your joint range of motion and there is much less chance of an injury occurring during the workout too.

The quality of stretching flexibility exercises is far more important than volume, learn to perform them correctly right from the off. It may seem like a workout on their own during the initial sessions but get your body used to performing them regularly before working out and they begin to feel more like the warm up they are intended for. As the session becomes easier and you can perform the stretching flexibility exercises very correctly, only then should you increase the intensity.

With an increased range of motion, you will find that you are stronger in unorthodox positions.

Training year round, with the consistency of adding such sessions to your workout will really help you to progress in your art.

I will add some of the specific stretching and flexibility exercises to this site.

Train Smart – Fightwize!

Add Burpees to Your Conditioning Program!

Burpees are a fantastic exercise, no equipment and no gadgets are required so there are really no excuses.

If you are not convinced on how super effective Burpees are for conditioning, then do yourself a favour and give them a go for a few minutes and you will pretty quickly understand what I’m talking about.

If you are not familiar with Burpees, no worries I will describe the basic form -

-From a Standing position, squat down and put your hands on the floor.
-Kick your feet back so you are now in a Push-Up position.
-Return your feet back to the squat position.
-From the squat position, jump up in the air as high as possible.
-Repeat

There are many variations of Burpees so you are never going to get bored of doing them. However, first get used to doing Burpees in this basic format and we can build on them from there. You will be pretty surprised at the number of different ways that we can mix them up.

The bottom line is – Add Burpees to your conditioning program 

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Your conditioning sessions do not have to be hours of long laborious exercises, try a few Mini Workouts as a change or even when you are pushed for time. You do not have to rely on them all the time but a couple of times per week would be good alternative from your regular workout. If you are a competitive fighter than you would be going beyond this level of training but once again, a short sharp session is far better than no session at all.

If you do no conditioning at all, then this is a perfect way for you to get started!

Recreational Martial artists, could rely on these for conditioning as long as you are not neglecting your technical training, flexibility and other aspects of training related to your art.

The great thing about mini workouts is that you can really mix them up and design each session different enough to keep your enthusiasm sky high.

I like to use functional exercises, that utilise multiple muscle groups in one exercise, rather than isolate a specific muscle. I also use exercises that use very simple tools or none at all.

My Mini Workouts are about 30 minutes long, that even allows for a 5 minute warm up and a 5 minute stretch at the end. They are a Tabata style of session, working very hard for 20 seconds and then taking a 10 second rest. I repeat this 30 second cycle 8 times and then rest for 30 seconds. The same exercise can be used throughout the 4 minute round or use a different exercise for each cycle

The type of exercises I use for mini workouts, that require no equipment or tools at all are:

Burpees
Push Ups
Body Squats
Squat Jumps
Squat Thrusts
Single Leg Squats
Jump Ups
Pikes
Dorsal Raises

That is really just naming a few options and then you have all the additional options that utilise some very simple tools.

Incorporate Mini Workouts into your daily schedule, the results that you can get are phenomenal.